


October 2019 Fests

by mansikka



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Imprisonment, Knitting, M/M, Minor Injuries, October Prompt Challenge, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-10-17 20:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20627165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: Ficlets for the various fests going on in October.3rd: Whumptober (delirium) / Tentacletober (injured tentacles) - My Hero7th: Flufftober (second kiss) / Whumptober (isolation) / Tentacletober (”how many of those are there?”) - Imprisoned11th: Flufftober (hands) / Whumptober (stitches - not whump though!) - Stitches14th: Flufftober (roommates) / Whumptober (tear-stained - not whump though!) - On Campus18th: Flufftober (pranks) / Whumptober (muffled scream - not whump though!) - Prank DayPosting separately9th: Tentacletober (surprise tentacles) - Not In The Immortality Handbook16th: Whumptober (pinned down - not whump though!) - A Nice, Quiet Evening20th: From The Shores Of Lemon Creek Park; multichapter





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Here are a few ficlets for the various fests going on in October, namely Flufftober, Whumptober, and Tentacletober. I'm splitting these into four separate works for the four ships I write for, and for longer oneshot pieces they'll be posted as separate fic. As I'm sure everyone else has done, all these prompts have been used as a guide only; I have Whumptobers that are mostly fluff and Flufftobers that are pretty sad. And there's smut thrown in there for some of them too; hurray! I'll tag and warn as appropriate as I post; happy October!
> 
> Prompts put together/arranged by (on Tumblr):
> 
> Flufftober - @giucorreias
> 
> Whumptober - @whumptober2019/ @la-vie-en-whump
> 
> Tentacletober - @lynne-monstr

"Would you quit _wriggling_?" Alec protests as Magnus flails out around him, tentacles spread in every direction on the decking, with one jabbing at the back of his hand.

"Alexander. _Wriggling_ kind of comes with the territory," he replies with a playful ripple of his tentacles, one flopping up to grasp at Alec's thigh. Though in place of the graceful dance Alec is more familiar with seeing, Magnus' limbs are all akimbo. Writhing and falling over one another, then jolting away if they brush against a sensitive spot. It's the look on his face when he tries to take control of his limbs functioning and they _disobey_ him that is making it so very hard for Alec not to laugh. He looks indignant, and cross-eyed, and if Alec didn't know better, he might say Magnus was drunk.

"Keep still," Alec insists, lightly gripping the tentacle currently flailing around in his lap that he is _trying_ to untangle from the fishing net Magnus has been caught in for days. Alec thinks he must have been exposed to the sun, or hasn't been able to eat or drink anything. Those are preferable thoughts to the tight binding of these nets trapping his tentacles leaving him in a state of painful delirium. Alec doesn't think he'll quite forgive himself for not being able to find him for so long.

"I _am_ still. It is _you_ who is moving," Magnus insists, leaning to prod him in the chest. Missing entirely, and ending up with his head on Alec's shoulder, sighing as he wraps him in his arms. "Much better."

Alec uses their position to his advantage hauling Magnus up on to his lap. He traps the still entangled tentacle between their chests and snorts with laughter as Magnus sits back, writhing in what Alec thinks is supposed to be a suggestive way. Instead he comes across as an exciteable puppy wanting Alec's attention to play. He gets the tip of his seraph blade beneath the stubborn string of netting that won't come free, grasping on to Magnus when he goes to fall back with a grateful sigh as his tentacle finally becomes loose. 

"My hero," Magnus declares as he sags against him, his tentacles fluttering up to wrap around Alec in a messy tangle of thanks. Alec laughs for the way all his suckers try and fail to latch on to him in their usual affectionate grip as he carefully pushes them off the decking and into the water, where Magnus can more properly heal.


	2. Imprisoned

As being held captive by the Clave goes, being kept in isolation with the object of his affections leaves Magnus thinking the situation could be infinitely worse. They have him trapped in a cage with ample room that extends deep enough to allow him to swim, yet also has a dry area across the length of it, presumably for Alec to perch on. Though Alec, defiant against his orders in that rebellious way of his Magnus is beginning to love about him, is in the water by his side. He looks fascinated as he laps up the attention of Magnus' tentacles, and is apparently an adorable kind of flustered that he is using them to hold him up by the waist.

"So how many of those are there?" Alec asks as he raises his hand up, watching as Magnus presses a suckered tentacle tip against his palm.

"You could count them," Magnus suggests, giving him a lascivious wink that feels a lot like foreplay, even if that's possibly too soon. Though the smirk Alec gives him would say that he agrees.

"Or you could just show me," Alec says softly, his voice dropping in a way that sends a tendril of heat through Magnus' core, making all his limbs shiver in the process.

"I'll show you anything you want."

"Really," Alec replies, wrapping his arms around Magnus' waist and pulling him in for what is now their second kiss.

Magnus isn't really sure what either he or Alec are being imprisoned for, nor for how long they will be held. He suspects when the Clave realize who _he_ is, and that Alec Lightwood is _canoodling_ with a powerful high warlock of the sea, that the Clave's attitude might shift a little. No one really wants to awaken the wrath of his father, after all. His temper is far shorter than Magnus', far less forgiving. Asmodeus will realize he is missing in a few hours, and then all hell may very well break loose. Literally.

But until then, Magnus is happy to stay here in the water, with a beautiful, inquisitive Shadowhunter secure in his arms. From the look on Alec's face he wouldn't want to be anywhere else either. Magnus half-hopes they are left undisturbed for a very long time.


	3. Stitches

"Chairman Meow, I'm _warning_ you. I mean it; you do that again, and I'll—_dammit_."

Magnus diverts from leaving the bedroom and heading for the kitchen for the raising of Alec's voice, carefully peeking around a bookshelf to see what is going on. He smothers his laughter behind his hand for the scene in front of him. Alec's frown is a deep ridge in his brow, his shoulders tense with frustration. Chairman Meow is at his feet clearly having the time of his life, tangled up in a ball of bright yellow yarn.

"You pulled all my _stitches_ off," Alec protests letting go of the knitting in his hands, letting it fall to his lap. Magnus watches his head drop back against the couch with a defeated huff before taking pity and joining him.

"Not going well?"

"Magnus," Alec says, his voice laced with exasperation, "I'm pretty sure our cat is part demon."

"Oh, almost all demon, I would say," Magnus replies as he drops to his knees and coos as he tickles Chairman Meow's belly. Earning himself several scratches to his wrist in the process, but it isn't as though he isn't already used to that.

"I think I'm starting over," Alec says when Magnus has untangled the yarn from Chairman Meow's paws, and carefully pulled Alec's work closer to inspect. The knitting is surprisingly neat for someone who has never done the craft before, though those stitches are in danger of completely unraveling thanks to Chairman Meow's assistance. Magnus carefully slides them back over the needles before pressing the knitting back into Alec's hands.

"No need. Though I still don't know if I fully understand _why_ you are knitting in the first place," Magnus adds as he sits down beside him, lazily summoning them both something to drink.

"Because. I lost a bet to _Jace_, and _Jace_ decided that Clary could pick whatever forfeit came with it. She wanted a _scarf_, of all things; a handmade one. And enough _selfies_ to prove it's actually me doing it," Alec adds as he grabs his phone without warning and angles it so both of them and his knitting are in the shot.

Magnus pulls an appropriate face then gets a kiss to Alec's cheek before he can pull back too far. "Well. You are adorable."

Alec's eyebrow shoots up in defiance even as the corners of his mouth begin to twitch. Magnus leans across to claim another kiss before he can say a word, clinking their glasses together before moving to give Alec more room to knit.


	4. On Campus

Never has Alec been so relieved to have someone in his arms. He presses his face into Magnus' shoulder and breathes deep, closing his eyes and letting all the tension drop from his body. These past few hours fearing the very worst had happened to him have been among the longest in Alec's life. So if Magnus' shoulder is now tear-stained, Alec won't apologize for it. He'll just hug him again, until this trembling in his heart subsides.

"It's okay, Alec," Magnus says softly, one hand steady on the small of his back while the other cradles his head, toying with his hair. "I'm okay."

"I didn't know you would be," Alec argues as he holds on even tighter. "I didn't know where you were."

The accommodation block in which they share a room had still been engulfed in flames when Alec returned to the campus after visiting his younger brother and parents back in New York. He couldn't get anywhere near the building, kept back behind fire trucks and police tape and a wall of other students watching in silence as the fire crew tried to put the fire out.

Somewhere in that building a pan was left on the stove, or a cable has overheated and set a comforter on fire. Or so many other things could have happened; Alec has feared every single one of them, but not more than he feared learning Magnus was trapped inside.

Magnus is red-eyed from the smoke with the most adorable smudge of soot over his right cheek. He has a bag slung over his shoulder, where Alec knows without even asking he'd have rummaged together all of their important things. He wants to yell at him, to tell him he should never have delayed himself getting out, even if he doesn't have proof that he did just yet. But for now, he can't say a thing, just needs to study his face, pull him into his arms, and be reassured that Magnus is okay once again.

This was never meant to happen. Alec had never thought he'd ever fall in love with anyone. But as Magnus continues murmuring soothing words to him and the world shifts back to color from monochrome for fearing Magnus was no longer in it, love is all he feels.

"I registered us over there," Magnus says as he nods towards a queue behind them, where students are waiting to list that they're okay, and that they need accommodation for the evening. "I don't think we're needed for anything else."

"Okay."

"So. Should we get out of here?" Magnus asks, adjusting the bag on his shoulder and taking Alec's hand.

Alec cups his face to draw him into a kiss, pouring every bit of love he can into it, dropping their foreheads together and closing his eyes. He nods when they're open again, giving Magnus another relieved smile. Magnus raises their hands to kiss the back of Alec's, and leans him away from the campus.


	5. Prank Day

A muffled scream rings out in the halls of the Institute, which would, on any other occasion, make Alec's blood curdle. Especially as he'd recognize that scream anywhere. Somewhere in the building, Jace is _suffering_. Though with a hand pressed over his parabatai rune for reassurance that it's the kind of suffering Jace can handle, Alec allows himself first a sigh of exasperation, and then a laugh; what the hell have they done _now_?

Jace started this all really, in fairness, declaring the lull in both work and in everyone's mood the perfect opportunity for _pranks_. There are several things Alec has turned a blind eye to then giggled over behind closed doors, yet none that he has participated in himself. It isn't that he doesn't want to, or doesn't think he can as Head of the Institute. It's that the pranks today are in the hands of experts, and he'd rather sit back and watch.

He hears Jace scream again, and decides the report he's already read twice for something to do can definitely wait. Alec pushes away from his desk and makes his way to Jace's room, trying to second-guess what he might see. He doesn't expect to hear Magnus' voice from beyond the doorway at a pitch that is both a reprimand and trying to keep a laugh under control. When Alec rounds the corner, Magnus' eyes immediately fall on his. Though there are several other things for Alec to then focus on aside from him.

"I already said I'm sorry," Simon yells, flailing his arms around as he tries to get out of Jace's headlock. Which would be comical enough if they were both stood on the floor. Right now they are balanced on top of Jace's piano. Magnus is in the corner of the room by the bed, his hand up as he holds open a portal, which he is trying to direct several large, fat ducks through. In fact, _lots_ of ducks, so many ducks it's almost impossible to see the floor. Somehow, without his knowledge, Simon has smuggled _ducks_ into the Institute and filled Jace's room with them. Simon is definitely going to win the title of prank king today...

Jace's eyes are out on stalks as he grips on to Simon in between glaring at the ducks still wandering around beneath his feet. And Alec then has another belated discovery. Clary and Izzy are stood behind the piano clasping on to one another and laughing so hard they are crying for it.

"Thank you for joining us, Alexander," Magnus says with a half-smile and a wink for him before the portal and ducks get his full attention again.

Alec smiles, folding his arms over his chest and leaning in the doorway to watch the scene in front of him, as more ducks lazily waddle through.


End file.
